US Open 2015: Andy Murray fearing the worst after his marathon ordeal

Andy Murray admitted last night that his exertions in having to come back from two sets down to beat Adrian Mannarino here at the US Open could have repercussions for him later in the competition.

Murray, who has been suffering with a cold, looked shattered at the end of his 5-7, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 victory over the 27-year-old Frenchman, which took more than three and a quarter hours. Many players have been suffering in this week’s gruelling heat and humidity, with 12 men retiring mid-match in the first two rounds.

“In these conditions, obviously, it can take its toll later on in the tournament,” Murray said. “But unfortunately you don’t always have the luxury of winning matches in straight sets. Sometimes you have to fight through. Maybe if you’re not playing your best, just find a way to get through.”

Murray has won 40 of the 48 five-set matches he has played in his career and this was the eighth time he has won from two sets down. Although he dominated the last three sets, he was outplayed in the first two.

“Thankfully, the last three sets were fairly comfortable in terms of scoreline, otherwise I could have been out there much longer,” Murray added. “That would have been very tough to recover from. I’ve played matches much longer than that, but it’s not easy to recover in these conditions.

“I’m proud of the way I fought. It was not an easy match to come through at all. He was making it extremely difficult for me. I thought he played some really, really good tennis. He has such an unorthodox game. I didn’t really feel that comfortable at many points out there, but I was happy — very happy — with the way I fought through that and finished the match stronger than him.

“I’ve come through many tough matches in my career and I think that’s why, when you are behind like that in the scoreline, when you’ve done it in the past, you have the belief that you can come through and do it again.”

Murray’s reward is a third-round meeting tomorrow against the world No30, Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci, who completed his second successive straight-sets victory in beating Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 6-0, 6-3, 6-4.

“I expect a tough match,” Murray said. “I would imagine he’s pretty close to his career-high ranking just now. He’s played well this year. He has a good serve. He plays predominantly from the back of the court, but he’s an aggressive player. He likes to try and dictate the points from the back.”

Roger Federer, who is seeded to meet Murray in the semi-finals, had a much easier passage, beating Belgium’s Steve Darcis 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 in just 80 minutes.

Federer, who has dropped only nine games in his first two matches, said: “Very often I start this tournament quite strong. It’s always gone quite well for me. I’ve always enjoyed conditions here — the balls, the speed of the court, the atmosphere in the arena. I think this is another good year.”

Lleyton Hewitt’s last match at the tournament before his retirement ended in typical fashion as he took Bernard Tomic, his fellow Australian, to five sets before losing 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5.

“I left it all out there again,” Hewitt said. “There was a great atmosphere and it was nice to be able to turn it into a decent match.”